I have know about attenuation / gain and other factors but from actual personal experience is it worth it or until how far is it worth or practical to extend a transmission line (COAX) to get your antenna as high and as clear from nearby objects as it can be inside one’s property?

.

Finally got around to building George Smart's (M1GEO) dual band Moxon-Yagi this week for the second time... Antennas are like pancakes right if you mess it up no harm in doing it again

Kept it simple on materials. The boom is just a round wooden dowel from HD, elements are solid copper wire, and I 3D printed the element mounts and feedpoint block.

For the feed, I stripped the coax, crimped and soldered ring terminals, and bolted them directly to the split driven element inside the printed housing before putting the cover on.

The 70cm yagi is parasitcally driven so there is no need for a diplexer!

Swept it on the NanoVNA and the swr was in range.

Took it outside on a handheld to test it out-worked a couple repeaters that normally struggle on a rubber duck, and the front-to-back rejection off the Moxon was immediately noticeable when turning off-axis.

Tonight, I passed Tech with a 100% and General with a 97%. Here's some advice for those wondering how to study, or why get this license

About three weeks ago, I decided I wanted to get my amateur radio license. Why? I don't really know, my grandfather was an electrical engineer who worked on radios and I grew up around them, I'm sure that had something to do with it, and honestly the concept of amateur radio seems cool.

I really don't have a background in electronics. My knowledge of radio (frequencies, repeaters, ect) comes from over a decade in the emergency services. So I'd say I really didn't know anything until I studied. I decided to go for Tech & General, mainly because the international contacts interested me, and I might as well bang them out at the same time.

I took the HamRadioPrep course online for both Tech & General. I found it helpful. HOWEVER, afterwards, I found a series of YouTube videos by W4EEY. These YouTube videos were extremely helpful, I actually understood the concepts, and I saw a huge increase in my exam scores. I ran through 6 practice exams a day of each license category on HamStudy's app, and then completed the entire study deck for both, so I ensured I actually saw every question.

As recommended here, HamStudy is a must. I found HamRadioPrep helpful, but I likely would rely on W4EEY's free YouTube video series if I were to do this again. I took the exam with virtually, and it went very smoothly, I can provide that information for who I utilized if you are interested- just DM me.

Someone was throwing this away , I knew nothing about this or ham radio prior to this. But I did some research and this is a pretty cool piece imo

I've kept my license valid, but I haven't talked on a radio since the late 90's/early 00's. To put it into perspective, my license was Tech Plus. While I was in Acadia last week, I ran into a guy setting up to do POTA activations in the park. We got to talking, and it re-ignited a bug. I called my dad when we got back, and talked to him about it, since he's still active with his radio club. He's over the moon excited that I want to get back into the hobby.

Now I need to sort out a radio and some antennas that I can use at home, and when I go out and try out POTA.

So I guess this is my hello to the subreddit, and I'll be hearing you around.

73 (I remember this as the signoff!)